


don't you know honey, that love's a game

by cvdmus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blink And You Might Miss It Pansy/Luna, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Hogwarts Eighth Year, I wrote this in three hours, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Mutual Pining, Someone Hug Draco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 09:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15216038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cvdmus/pseuds/cvdmus
Summary: pansy, blaise and gregory thought it would be a fun idea to brew love potion for draco.but do love potions work if one’s already in love?





	don't you know honey, that love's a game

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beyza](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Beyza).



> okay don’t sue me i did what i had to do it to em
> 
> and also 
> 
> i’m aware pansy and blaise aren’t exactly the best of people in hogwarts but they’re the only friends draco had cut him some slack
> 
> song: queen - misfire
> 
> have fun and pleas leave kudos if you like it thank

It starts out as a joke.

The rumour had been going around for years but nobody actually dared because– let’s face it, Draco was scary because of his father. And now that the war is over, nobody was actually afraid of what Malfoy could’ve done. His Death Eater father was locked up in Azkaban for good and Draco only had his head in the classes. 

So yes, it starts out as a joke before it becomes real. They prepare him a potion– a love potion, just to see him pining for the Boy Who Lived Twice. They thought it would be funny. There was no harm, it was only twenty-four hours. 

It was actually Zabini’s idea to begin with. Goyle supported him and Pansy brewed the potion just before the curfew, in the old backup cabinet of late Professor Snape where he kept his potions and ingredients. 

You see, last night, Pansy and Draco had a heated argument about which is better: Alohomora or Aberto? And after Draco flipped the table and said that anyone who dared to use Alohomora in front of him or defend that pathetic excuse for a spell could go to Azkaban for all he cares. So this noon, Pansy offered him a glass of Elf-made wine ‘to put an end to the discussion because it doesn’t matter if you use Alohomora or Aberto, it matters if you were able to unlock the door at the end’.

Being the fool Draco kindly smiles and takes the wine without questioning why, takes a sip and thanks Pansy for the beautifully aged wine. He walks away with the drink in his hand.

Now, at around the same time, Harry should’ve drunk his own drink. (Pansy had found Hermione and told her that Professor McGonnagall was to see her quickly. So when Hermione had left the breakfast table at such hurry, Pansy quickly poured the counter-potion down Harry’s watercup.)

It should’ve all be set by now.

Pansy, Blaise, Goyle and Luna was now waiting for— hold up, why was Luna there? How did she sit down next to these Slytherins and when did she arrive? Anyway, thay were waiting for Draco to come in for dinner to their table and to see if there were any changes on Draco. They were desperate to see how much of a fool Draco would make of himself. 

Indeed did Draco come and sat down. He gave a quick smile at them and didn’t ask why Luna was there. “Hey,” he greeted them.

They all murmurred greetings. Pansy was the one to break the silence.

“I saw Potter on the way here,” she said and waiting for some changes at the mention of Potter’s name. “Bit of a git, no?”

Draco practically sneered. “Acknowledging it now, Pans? Great to have you on our sides finally.”

Blaise looked up at Draco, then Pansy, then Draco again. “I beg your pardon?”

“Beg my pardon for all I care, if one of you talk about that wuss from now on, I’ll be vomiting before any of you stop me.”

Goyle and Blaise thought the potion she brewed was a failure, that they should’ve known better. But Pansy took lessons from the bests of the Wizarding World. Professor Snape taught her for years and she had the chance to get love potion classes from Professor Slughorn himself! The potion should’ve worked. It just must have!

Luna leaned on Pansy’s shoulder and turned her head to Pansy’s ear. “Don’t worry,” she assured her. “Potion worked.”

Pansy was about to ask how did she know but Luna started to speak to her equally blond male counterpart. “You call him mean words, but I’ve heard him talking about you not in a mean way.”

Blaise finally asked the question nobody asked from the beginning. “Why are you even here, Loony?”

“Oh Merlin’s beard,” said Pansy turned to Blaise who sits at her right side. “You can’t just ask people why they are here!”

Luna smiled. “I’m not here for me,” she said calmly and turned to Draco again.

Draco shrugged. “Not in a mean way? I see you’re a pathetic friend of that pathetic half-witted’s.“

Blonde sighed but didn’t break her smile, her knowing and caring face was all what Pansy was into right now. “That’s not a nice to thing to say to someone who’s been in love with you since the fifth year.”

“Is this some kind of a sick twisted joke?” Draco practically shouted and got up. “Did Blaise tell you this? Huh?” he turned to face the said man. “Couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut?” 

Blaise growled. “What the fuck are you talking about, Drake?”

“Drake now, is it not? You tell them what I said to you, give away my secret. Now I’m Drake to you?” 

Nobody on the table knew what was going on. Certainly not Harry who was eavesdropping to their conversation. Almost everyone on the Great Hall was listening to the argument. Not everyone had arrived yet but there were enough people. And Draco didn’t seem to actually care.

“I would never, and you know that.”

Pansy intervened. “What are you guys talking about.”

“What is she talking about?” Draco pointed at Luna. “Everyone knows how much I loathe him. Why are you talking about that damned idiot?”

“Said damned idiot,” Luna got up slowly. “is listening to how much you hate him right now.”

Draco turned around to face Harry who was actually listening. He was going to tell him to sod off and stop eavesdropping but instead he didn’t. He faced his friends once again, turning forwards. He took a step back. “Please stop, okay? Not everyone has to know,” he said.

He had tan away before Pansy could’ve stop him. Then she turned to Blaise and said: “Nice going, asshole.”

“What?” Blaise said throwing his hands in the air. “What have I done?”

It started out as a joke.

The rumour had been going around for years but nobody actually dared because nobody actually knew about how Draco felt. To everyone, he was a cold-hearted Slytherin who secretly yearned for the Dark Lord’s reign and the number one hater of the Chosen One. But to Blaise, he was a small queer boy with daddy issues and empty whiskey bottles under his bed with blackness under his eyes. And Blaise would never give away his secret, he would never. 

Harry got up. Something was wrong with Malfoy, there had to be. For three years, he had never heard his voice that loud. It must’ve been dreamlike to even hear it. He never thought that Draco’s voice could be that angry. Last time Harry heard Draco’s most vulnerable voice was when he was to kill Dumbledore, but he just couldn’t. And Harry never blamed the boy. 

Harry walked up to the Slytherins table and– what was Luna doing here? He leaned forward. “Hello guys,” he said. “Hi Luna.”

“Hi Harry,” Luna said back. 

“Potter,” Pansy said whining. “We fucked up something we don’t quite know what.”

Harry frowned. “I’ve noticed. I was going to ask what happened? That didn’t sound like Draco.”

Harry heard Blaise sigh. “That’s because it probably wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“We wanted to pull a prank on Drake, Pans brewed him a potion-

(“-a succesfull one.” Pansy intervened.)

“-but it didn’t show its effects so we pushed him and asked him few questions. He got angry and left,” Blaise explained. 

“May I ask what potion was that? It must’ve show some kind of a side-effect or something.”

Luna spoke. “A love potion. Not a very strong one but a cool one. Other love potions make whoever drinks it fall in love with the potion maker. But the one Miss Pansy brewed has a potion and a counter-potion. So the potion drinker would fall in love with the counter-potion drinker for only twenty-four hours.”

Harry evaluated what Luna said for a while, he realised that he had been standing there the whole time so he sat down where Draco was sitting only two minutes ago. “I get it, Draco wasn’t all sappy for anyone as far as I could see. You think it didn’t work?”

“Counter-potion was for you, Potter,” said Blaise, with a slight dislike in his tone. “I think that potion worked but your being a shithead ruined everything. I think you didn’t even drink that water, huh?”

Harry frowned. “What?”

“We just wanted Draco to look like a fool so we could’ve have some fun, alright?” Pansy said sighing. “I didn’t actually guess that you wouldn’t drink water.”

“I drank water.”

“From your watercup?”

“From my watercup.”

Luna spoke up. “I told you the potion worked, Miss Pansy.”

Pansy cried out. The day wasn’t going any well. “But it didn’t!”

“If the potion drinker is already in love with or interested in the counter-potion drinker, they wouldn’t feel the effects,” Luna explained and left the table with a smile on her witty face. She was indeed a Ravenclaw. 

Harry didn’t seem to understand so he looked at the shocked faces of Pansy and Blaise.

Anyone wondering about Goyle, he went to get a second plate ten minutes ago but he didn’t arrive yet. 

“I... don’t understand?”

Blaise closed his eyes and sighed, opened them again. “Figured. Drake wasn’t lying when he said you were an insufferable dullard excuse for a wizard.”

“Oh.”

“Blaise!” Pansy warned her friend. “Luna said that the potion worked but Draco didn’t feel the effects.”

“So?”

“That’s because he already has feelings for you.”

“Oh... Oh? Oh. OH!” Harry had a hard time understanding. He was indeed unobservant. That was why it took him years to figure out how to kill Voldemort. 

“So yeah, cat’s out,” Draco was thinking somewhere inside the Hogwarts’ enormous building. He wasn’t aware of the potion that was running through his veins. But then again, was that potion actually needed?

Yes it was when Harry was a thick-headed boy who was unaware of his surroundings most of the time. And that was probably what Draco liked about him the most. His face when he wasn’t able to process. He looked pretty dumb. But it was cute. Pretty cute. Draco wanted to swipe that cuteness off his face by punching Harry. On the lips. With his own lips. Slowly. Maybe biting a bit.

ANYWAY. 

“You know what?” Harry said, getting up, going backwards slowly. “I have a... a place to go to. See you around guys.”

He looked like he was running away, but he didn’t care. He had to find Draco. Now that he knew that somehow Draco was interested in him back. 

Everybody knew why Harry was leaving, they didn’t question it. 

Harry first checked the loos, due to the past they shared together. It was not such a distant memory but it wasn’t a recent one either, yet the regret was still fresh. Had he known what Sectumsempra was capable of doing. He had assumed it was just a simple spell like Stupefy. It wasn’t.

Harry checked the Slytherin commonroom as well, asked another Slytherin to look inside and the answer was negative. Harry was on the unpleasant verge of crying. He said “Bingo!” when he thought about the Astronomy Tower. Why hadn’t he think about there before. He had been walking around the school for twenty minutes. 

It was a five minute walk to the top of the Tower. And Harry was right, Draco was standing there, looking at the sky which wasn’t as bright as the morning but wasn’t as dark as the night. It was a nice shade of lightning and lavender and firewhiskey. The stars were starting to show themselves, blinking. 

“Malfoy?” 

Draco didn’t turn around, he recognised the voice. Harry thought he heard a sniffing. He was probably correct. 

“Came to mock, Potter?”

“Is there something funny?” Harry asked. “Some joke I missed?”

“My life’s the one you’re looking for.”

Harry smiled geniunely but tried not to reflect it on his voicetone. “You were given a potion,” Harry said.

“By who?” 

“Pansy, Blaise, Gregory. And Luna, I suppose.”

“And why would they do that?” There was a slight disbelief you could’ve catched if you listened closely.

“To watch you make a fool of yourself,” Harry sighed. “They make you drink a love potion, and dinner was just a terrible way to see if you were pining or desperately acting like a teenager.”

Draco turned around finally, not actually meeting Harry’s eyes. The sun was setting pretty bright, Draco’s hair was actually made of gold, Harry convinced himself. “I don’t love anyone. They must’ve brewed the potion incorrect.”

“I highly doubt that, Draco.”

“Pfft, like hell you’d know,” Draco said and sneered. “They involved you in their little game too, didn’t they? I should’ve known that even Luna could’ve lied to me.”

“We’re not lying, Malfoy. Certainly not Luna.” 

“They how do you explain it? She said you have been in love with me ever since the fifth year. Is it truth too?”

Harry blushed. He didn’t know that Luna knew that, he felt the blood didn’t only remain on his cheeks but quickly conquered his ears as well. 

“Wouldn’t be a lie,” Harry said, getting his courage. Oh god, oh god, oh god. Harry had dreamt of this moment for so long.

Draco did too. 

But Harry had actually planned it. 

Draco hadn’t. That was what caught him off guard.

He didn’t drop his guard, though. He was used to being lied to. “Sure thing, Potter. Next thing you’ll tell me your father was a dog!”

“A stag, actually.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you playing games with me? What do you people want from me? War’s over, I have nothing to hide anymore!”

Harry was smiling now. Because he had finally seen how broken Draco was. The mask was dropped. He wasn’t the strong Malfoy who he had wanted everyone to see. He was Draco. Just Draco. Without any titles, without any names. He was just a boy.

A broken boy.

Just like himself.

“Why the fuck are you grinning?”

“I can’t believe how did we end up here.”

Draco frowned. “What? You followed me here like a damn stalker and you’re asking me how?”

“No, I’m just amazed at the fact that you could love me just like how I loved you.”

“What makes you think that I’d love a boy like you? What makes you think that I’d love a bloke, though?”

Harry was holding himself back not to sigh. It was obvious. He had a nice fashion sense. Too nice for a decent man. He might be oblivious to everything for most of the time but he had the voice inside his head telling him that Draco was pretty gay. Not that... he’d known for certain.

“I spent long enough time among the Wizarding World to know loving your own gender is nothing to be ashamed of–“

“Bullshit. What makes you think I’m a fag, Potter? You forget yourself.”

Harry ignored the slur. “If you’re not ready, you don’t have to say anything. I’ll wait, for you.”

Draco didn’t answer. The sun was low that it almost went missing behind the meadow. He took a deep breath.

“Maybe you’re actually correct,” Harry thought he heard Drack saying. 

“What?” 

“I said, ‘maybe I unusually overslept.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“It does but you’re so much of a daft you’re not able to get it.”

Harry stared at Draco for a minute.

It started out as a joke, maybe, it really did. But Harry knew that Draco wasn’t the same person he used to be. And Harry loved every aspect of Draco. His rights and his wrongs. They hadn’t actually get a chance to sit down and get to know themselves. But Harry knew Draco. He had seen inside of Draco. His mind. His thoughts. 

When in that forest, when he pretended to be dead and Narcissa Malfoy came to check on him, Harry felt dying. But Narcissa leaned and asked worriedly: “Is Draco alive? Is he in the castle?”

How would Harry know? Why should Harry know? 

Yes, Harry breathed, he is. 

“He’s dead,” announced Narcissa. He wasn’t sure if Narcissa was protecting his son only, or Harry as well. 

But then Harry realised how much Narcissa loved Draco. He thinks Narcissa didn’t even care if Voldemort won or not, she cared about the safety and the well-being of her son. Harry knew, Draco wasn’t the best of people. But his mother was too caring for a Death Eater. He could’ve trust her. So he did. He trusted her. And therefore, he started to trust in Draco as well.

When Voldemort announced his death, he heard a few gasps from his friends, a round of applause and laughter from Death Eaters. He knew Draco didn’t laugh. He knew Draco didn’t applaud. After Harry pushed Hagrid who was holding him and fell to the ground after Neville’s speech, he heard Draco. Shouting at him. Running at him. “Potter!”

That must have been the sweetest sound for someone who just started his, perhaps, third life.

They didn’t speak after that. Sometimes exchanges small “thank you”s or “please”s during classes but nothing fancier than that. It was enough for Harry. At least he get to hear Draco’s voice.

And now, he truly didn’t believe how did they end up there. 

“Do you mind if I kiss you?”

Malfoy frowned slightly, he was taken aback, surely. It was pretty... straight-forward. Harry was only four or five steps ahead him. 

“I would mind if you didn’t,” Draco answered. 

Their lips meet for the first time. This time it’s real. It isn’t a dream. It isn’t a fantasy. Draco actually has Harry kissing his lips. And boy, it’s amazing. Warm and sweet. Must be something he ate.

Draco loved it when Harry’s hand wandered around his waist. To his luck, Harry had a bit of experience before. Cho, Ginny, Cedric and Bill that one time. Still, Draco wasn’t as experienced as Harry. His first kiss was taken by Blaise. 

Look, they were both drunk. And Blaise isn’t even gay! I mean, he doesn’t fancy blokes. And that was how Draco told him. 

Draco was the one who broke the kiss. He was left breathless. (Not that Harry was breathtaking). “Well,” Draco said.

They kiss again, this time Draco inhales much air in. And Draco liked the way how Harry lowers his hand to his hips and squeezes them protectively. Some moans escape from their mouths.

A cough breaks them apart.

Well, Professor McGonnagal is the last face they expected to see there.

“Pro... Professor-“ Harry mutters

“Though I don’t hold a strong opinion on love, I’m afraid I have to warn you boys that it is almost past the curfew and that you should turn to your dorms before your friends start to worry,” McGonnagal states. 

Draco walks away and Harry follows him, only to be stopped by McGonnagal who is holding his arm. “Thank you,” says the professor.

“Why?”

“I was getting tired of the way you two barked at each other. What can I say? I’m more than happy that you two finally, in literal terms, kissed and made up,” McGonnagal applauded. “Ten points to Minerva.”

Harry followed Draco to the corridor that leads to the temporary Slytherin commonroom (dungeons were destroyed in the war, alongside with the whole south side of the building). It was time to part their ways.

“So,” said Harry.

“So,” said Draco.

“We kissed.”

“Finally,” Draco giggled. 

Draco’s teeth weren’t excellent, but the way they were shaped was making his cheeks grow wider. It suited him. 

“Are we boyfriends?” Harry asked.

“I mean... If you want. Do you want?”

“Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

Harry kissed Draco on the lips, for the last time that night. “Bold of you to assume I’d like to be yours.”

Draco laughed, geniunely, and hugged Harry. It was the one of the rarest moments that he was happy. Harry smelled like his mother Narcissa’s gardens. The oldest but the happiest memory he ever had. He had to thank God first, then Harry. He never thought that the boy who rejected being his friend first year would have become his boyfriend eight years later.

 

END.

**Author's Note:**

> hey
> 
> thanks


End file.
